Drowning Accidents and SCUBA Diving

Drowning Accidents and SCUBA Diving

Posted By
The Doan Law Firm, P.C.

It is estimated that there are about 100 deaths each year that can be directly
linked to recreational SCUBA diving, and a smaller number of deaths are
associated with professional divers (e.g. underwater welders or underwater
pipeline and cable inspectors). In this post, a drowning accident lawyer
will review the causes of deaths during or immediately after a recreational
dive and then examine how a drowning lawyer may be able to help the families
of such accidents.

Potential Causes of SCUBA Diving Deaths or Injuries

Investigations of SCUBA drowning accidents have produced a large amount
of statistical data, although the usefulness of these data is often limited
by the fact that most accident investigations are superficial and the
cause of death is usually listed as “drowning” and no one
bothers to investigate the circumstances that led to such drownings. In
fact, unless the investigation is conducted by experienced accident investigators,
causative factors such as equipment failure or air mixture problems will
not be appreciated. None the less, most water safety experts list the
following as potential causes of SCUBA drownings:

Inadequate air supply, causing the diver to panic and attempt to make critical
decisions while under stress or while suffering from hypoxia (low oxygen
level in the blood).

Improper buoyancy compensation, causing the diver to enter the water carrying
excess weight and thus preventing controlled ascent or descent once the
diver is in the water.

Failure to ditch weight belts when in distress, causing the diver to struggle
with excess weight when attempting to swim after surfacing.

Equipment malfunction, although relatively uncommon, may deprive a diver
with sufficient oxygen even though the tanks were properly filled and
maintained.

From a medical standpoint, other issues that may have bearing on SCUBA
drowning accidents are:

Asphyxia (loss of consciousness due to some interference with oxygen intake
and/or carbon dioxide removal).

Arterial gas embolism occurring secondary to an accelerated ascent from
depth. If these is damage to the lugs during ascent, gas may leak into
the body’s arterial circulation.

Pre-existing cardiac disease is a factor in deaths occurring in divers
over the age of 50. Undetected cardiac structural defects, such as a previously
undetected patent foramen ovale (a small hole in the tissue separating
the heart’s upper chambers) can lead to an incapacitating stroke.

Finally, an inexperienced diver may not have the experience of a more-seasoned
diver and may either fail to notice a developing problem until the diver’s
life is endangered or that inexperienced diver may panic at the first
sign of trouble and thus convert a minor problem into a life-endangering
situation.

Unlike traffic accidents, SCUBA accidents almost always occur in relative
isolation on either the open water or on inland water that isolates the
diver and the surface crew. Thus, there is often a significant delay before
rescue personnel can be summoned. Further complicating rescue is the fact
that few crews remember to fix the diver’s last known location by
referencing landmarks ashore or by deploying a buoy before leaving the
area to summon help when a diver fails to surface at the appropriate time.

Liability and Diving Accidents

Liability in SCUBA drowning accidents can be hard to establish due to the
fact, as mentioned above, that the post-accident investigations by local
law enforcement agencies are usually not thorough. If the drowning accident
occurred in an area that is monitored by the Coast Guard, the investigation
will generally be more extensive. Unfortunately, most such drowning accidents
occur in areas where the Coast Guard does not have an active presence.

Since many drowning victims are the breadwinners of a family, SCUBA drowning
accidents often cause the victim’s survivors to experience significant
financial problems. In addition to loss of regular wages and other income,
these accidents are sometimes contested by insurance carriers and thus
the payment of accidental death benefits may be significantly delayed

If you have lost a family member to a SCUBA drowning accident, or if a
family member suffered an injury while diving, you are strongly advised
to arrange a consultation with a personal injury and drowning lawyer.
In your initial consultation, your drowning attorney will review that
facts of your case and help you decide on the legal avenues that may be
available in your SCUBA accidental drowning case.

As noted earlier, there may be liability issues that must be decided on
complicated legal grounds. Only an experienced accidental drowning lawyer
will understand such issues and his or her assistance may prove invaluable
in securing a drowning victim’s family’s right to be compensated
for their loss.